Improvement in hinges



Unrrrnn S'IArns JONATHAN MILLER, OF WA'IKINS, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN HINGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 120,762, dated November'7, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JONATHAN MILLER, of Watkins, in the county ofSchuyler and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Grate-Hinges; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enableothers skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawing forming a part of this speciiication.

My invention relates to the hinges of gates which swing both ways;andconsists in the looking device hereinafter fully described andsubstantially pointed out in the claims. j

Figure l is a sectional elevation of a pair of hinges for a gate havingmy improvements. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line x x of Fig.l, and Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line y y.

A is a loose cast-metal pintle, constructed in the form of acylindrical, rod, c, with a wide iiange or collar, b, at the center, andthe right hand spiral ribs c at one side of the collar, eX- tending tothe end, and the corresponding lefthand spiral ribs d at the other side,also extending to the end, said ribs being formed in crosssection, asrepresented in Fig. S-that is, on a true circle or thereabout-on theside acting against the wall of the hole in the knuckle, to cause therising of the gate from the point c at the junction with the cylindricalpart c, as far as the surface of said rib can bear on the wall of thehole in the knuckle-say to the point lf-or it may be considerablybeyond, if preferred; and the hole in the knuckle is shaped tocorrespond, so as to provide a greater amount of bearingsurface, Whileemploying the cylindrical part a,

than can be had when the bearing-surfaces are Y made on straight lines;but more particularly to prevent the rapid wearing off of the corners ofthe spiral ribs, which takes place when made on straight lines, andwhich has heretofore prevented the successful use of hinges constructedon this plan. On the opposite sides of these ribs they are so shaped, byflattening them to some extent, as to form a groove, g, between them andthe cylindrical part, one wall of whichthat formed by the side of theribacts against its counterpart in the hole of the knuckle, to

hold the pintle on one side of the collar when the part on the otherside is turning in its knuckle, or the knuckle turning on it, as thecase may be. The holes through the knuckles for the pintle are providedwith spiral concavities, j, for the cylindrical portion c of the pintle,between the spiral grooves for the ribs a or c, and the knuckles arecast on chillcores to harden the walls of the holes so as to withstandthe great wear they are subjected to. The patterns for the molds and thechill-cores for these holes are so formed that the castings are made inmolds formed on whole patterns and similar chills, so that the finscommon to two-part molds are avoided.

For locking the gate open, I arrange a projection, B, on each of the twosides of one of the fixed knuckles, preferably the lower one, in theaxial plane of the pintle, perpendicular to the gate when closed, andthe long A-shaped rib D on the knuckle-plate E on the gate. I also formthe pintle F on such a taper that when the gate is swung open andraised, so that the knuckle Gis nearly at the upper end of the pintleand the rib D has passed beyond the projection B, there will besufficient freedom in the eye of the knuckle G to allow the rib D tofall behind the projection and lock the gate. I make the sides of theprojections B, which hold the rib D, on such angles that, While theywill hold the gate against the tendency of its gravity to close it, alsosome force in addition thereto, yet they will not hold it so securely asto withstand a strong breeze of wind or a vigorous push on the gate byhand 5 wherefore it may be readily disengaged from the locking devicewithout lifting the free end up.

The spiral pintles A are tapered toward the ends, so that ample spacewill be afforded for the necessary vibration of the gate at the lowerhinge for locking and unlocking, in the manner described.

When the gate swings one way, say to the right, the knuckle H rises uponthe pintle, which remains stationary; but when it swings the other way,the pintle rises in the knuckle I.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. The spiral pintle A comprising the cylindricalpart a, the ange b, and spiral ribs c and ular portion of the knuckle G,substantially as d, combined with the knuckles H I, when said set forth.l ribs and the Walls of the holes in the knuckles The abovespecification of my invention signed are arranged in the formssubstantially as deby me this 29th day of April, 1871.

scribed. JONATHAN MILLER.

2. In combination with a. rising and falling gate-hinge, the lockingdevice herein described, Witnesses:

consisting of the projections B and the tapered GEO. W. MABEE,

pintle F on the knuckle I, and the eye in the T. B. MOSHER,

horizontal and the long ribD on the perpendic- WM. H. C. SMITH. (24)

